Calculating the Cost of the National Debt

Fresh Air

Published February 13, 2008 at 5:27 PM EST

Most Americans have a vague notion of our national debt, but how many of us really understand the repercussions of a $9 trillion debt?

In their new book, Where Does the Money Go?, authors Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson calculate the cost of debt and examine the way a looming federal budget crisis threatens to affect personal savings, retirement and mortgages.

Biddle and Johnson are co-editors of the Public Agenda Online, a public affairs website.

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